


You Shouldn't Have

by widowshulk



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-11 00:58:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4414889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widowshulk/pseuds/widowshulk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Age of Ultron, Bruce has been living in isolation on an island not far from Fiji and every month he gets a visit from Natasha, who brings him goodies and news. Based on the prompt: "Bruce has been living in a small island hut & Nat leaves training every month or so to visit for a few days, bringing him new goodies/books/etc he likes each time"</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Shouldn't Have

“You off again, Romanoff?” Sam teased as Natasha was boarded the jet with a duffel bag big enough to hold at least three dead bodies.

“Yep,” she said, a sarcastic smile across her face. 

“Have a good one,” Sam replied shaking his head, knowing he’d never find out where she was going.

Natasha dumped the bag in the back and started flying. She could put in her coordinates and let autopilot take over, but that data would be sent straight to Rogers or Hill, and they didn’t need to know where she was heading. They had been kind enough to let her use the jet for these excursions, but she didn’t need them knowing where she was going. She’d found a way around the system so that when she flew in stealth mode, there was no way for anybody to locate the location of her destination. She, herself, didn’t have a problem with them knowing where she was going, but she knew somebody who would be very upset about having their location given away to the most high profile organisation on earth. 

She made good time today, the wind was on her side, and it wasn’t long before she navigated her way on to the island not far from Fiji. There was only one small clearing that she could use for landing and it had been tricky to navigate on her first few visits, but she was well-practiced now and had it down to a fine art. As she shut the jet down, she noticed she had company waiting for her. She was becoming predictable, taking every fourth weekend off and leaving for three days, it was getting to be a habit now and he had obviously noticed.

Grabbing the bag of supplies, she jumped out of the jet and was greeted with a bear hug. 

“It’s good to see you,” Bruce said, a grin spread across his face.

“You too, doc. How’ve you been?” Natasha asked as they started walking to Bruce’s hut.

“Good, the training’s going well and there haven’t been any run-ins with the locals since your last visit.”

“That’s great. I brought goodies,” Natasha said, lifting the bag a little to refocus his attention. 

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Bruce reminded her for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“You’d starve out here without me bringing you food.”

“I managed before you found me.”

“Barely,” Natasha teased.

They got to Bruce’s hut and he lit the small fire out front, ready to start boiling water for tea. 

“Want to see what I brought this time?” Natasha asked.

“Sure.”

“Junk food, lots of protein. Great for post-Hulk out. Some fruit, some vegetables, lots of canned soups,” she said as she emptied a few things out to show him.

“Thanks, Natasha.”

“That’s not all. I raided your room back at the tower while the boys were on a mission. I’ve got some Shakespeare, some Austen, and some Dickens. Your taste in books sucks by the way, so I threw in some King, some Cornwell, and some Grisham. Oh, and a new tech Stark’s team have been working on. Solar powered tablets. Downloaded a bunch of movies and games on there, and it can’t be tracked. You can’t get online, obviously, but it beats counting the trees on the island.”

“Nat, you shouldn’t have.”

“I don’t want you to be driven to madness through boredom,” Natasha said, packing up the bag to take it inside the hut. “There’s more food in here as well.

“I’ve still got food left over from last time you were here.”

“Now you’ve got more.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Wanna hear what the team’s been up to?” Natasha asked as Bruce poured them tea.

“Of course.”

Natasha relayed countless stories of the new team’s training and how they were progressing, as well as stories about the old team and what they were up to now.

“Oh, Laura sent some videos of the kids. I’ve put them on the tablet.”

Bruce smiled and listened to Natasha talk about the night she’d babysat the kids for Clint and Laura, a night of horrors like nothing she’d ever trained for.

“You’ve got it good, out here in the quiet,” Natasha said, basking in the tranquillity of the island.

“Just what the doctor ordered.”

“Which doctor?”

“This doctor.” Bruce laughed as he gestured to himself and Natasha joined in. 

They spent the night talking under the stars, where they fell asleep on the sand, not for the first time. As the night got colder, their bodies gravitated towards each other, seeking out the heat. When she woke up the next morning, Natasha was secretly delighted to find Bruce’s arm draped over her stomach, but she knew it would be too much for him, so she slid out before he woke up and set about making some food.

“You brought coffee as well?” Bruce asked, rubbing his eyes as they adjusted to the sunshine.

“A couple of jars.”

“How many times can I thank you in one weekend?”

“You know you don’t need to,” Natasha said, handing him a cup of coffee.

Bruce smiled and Natasha put the finishing touches on breakfast.

It wasn’t long before they were both ready for the day and Bruce took her to the other side of the island to show her his progress since she’d last been here. It was a jungle-like area, filled with trees and flowers you could never find somewhere like America. She loved it here, it was beautiful. 

“There’s a spot up there to watch from,” Bruce reminded her.

“Got it, doc.” 

Natasha sped off to the improvised observation deck and waited patiently. Moments later, Bruce took off his clothes and transformed himself into Hulk. Hulk jumped around the trees, not tearing them down, not destroying them, but being careful with them. For about an hour, Natasha watched Hulk have fun, and she actually enjoyed herself. Then, Hulk nodded to her and she knew Bruce was coming back, so she jogged down to meet him. 

“That was impressive. He did no damage at all. He’s completely under your control. You’ve done it,” she said as she found Bruce pulling his shirt back on.

“You’re right. Letting him out every few days, not being afraid of him, it’s changed everything,” Bruce said with child-like excitement.

“He even looked like he was having fun. The Hulk!” 

Bruce laughed and tried to picture it, but it didn’t seem possible. Hulk, the rage-filled monster, having fun? It was unfathomable.

“In a couple of months, I think we’ll be ready to re-join the world,” Bruce said as they walked back to the hut.

“That soon? That’s great,” Natasha said. “As long as you think you’re ready.”

“Not yet, but we’re getting there.”

They smiled at each other, appreciating the other’s company. Neither of them had mentioned the kiss or the almost-kiss, not wanting to make things awkward, but both of them still cared deeply about each other, and they could sense that about the other. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them that once Bruce was ready to leave the island, and return to his life, that’s when he and Natasha would talk about their future together. Until then, these visits were enough for both of them.

They spent the rest of the weekend talking, not about anything in particular, but about everything and nothing. Natasha helped Bruce make his hut bigger, something she’d been meaning to do for a few months, but hadn’t gotten around to. On Sunday night, Bruce even tried reading Natasha some Shakespeare, but she fell asleep pretty quickly, although she could well have been pretending. 

When Monday afternoon came, and Natasha had to fly back, neither of them were sad about it. They’d enjoyed themselves and they knew they were going to see each other soon. Plus, it wasn’t going to be long before Bruce was going to be able to come back to civilisation, so they had something even better to look forward to. 

As Natasha took off, she waved to Bruce and he waved back with a small smile.


End file.
